EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The White House has responded to a petition to allow Texas to secede by saying the Founding Fathers who created the Union “did not provide a right to walk away from it.”

More than 125,000 people signed the petition created after President Barack Obama’s re-election. The White House has promised it will respond to any petitions that get more than 25,000 signatures within 30 days.

Jon Carson, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, issued a response Monday that quotes Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address and a Supreme Court opinion after the Civil War. He says America was created as a “perpetual union,” but one that allows people with different beliefs to debate the issues.

Carson’s post was in response to secession petitions for eight states, including Texas.